MoH calls for hiring strategy overhaul amid 100,000 unemployed health workers

The Ministry of Health has raised significant concerns regarding the growing number of unemployed health workers in Ghana, attributing part of the problem to the unchecked expansion of private health training institutions.

This announcement coincides with requests from the Parliamentary Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources for the Ministry of Finance to allocate funds to enable the posting of over 2,000 Environmental Health Officer graduates who have been unposted since 2021.

These officers are considered essential in tackling the country’s escalating sanitation issues.

During the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, May 29, 2025, Ministry spokesperson Tony Goodman clarified that while the Ministry trains health professionals according to specific regional and national staffing requirements, numerous private institutions continue to enroll large numbers of students without aligning their training with the actual demand.

Mr. Goodman pointed out that this disconnect has led to a backlog of nearly 100,000 unemployed health workers, some of whom have been waiting for employment for as long as five years.

“We cannot recruit everyone this year; that would be disastrous. We have nearly 100,000 individuals who are currently at home and have not been employed for five years. Therefore, we cannot use a single year to recruit all of them,” he stated.

He also criticized private institutions for accepting large groups mainly to generate profit, disregarding the Ministry’s staffing requirements.

“There are various private training institutions that, in order to operate and make a profit to pay teachers, would admit a large number of students, churn them out, and then expect the Ministry of Health to hire them,” Goodman remarked.

The Ministry is advocating for a more coordinated strategy in training and recruitment to better align supply with demand and alleviate the unemployment of qualified health professionals.